The Pilgrim and his Holy Pilgrimage

Part 1. The Pilgrim and his Holy Pilgrimage

Chapter 2. Krishnaji describes his perception of the indescribable, timeless reality, God, Life.

Destiny and function of nature

Life is creation, is movement and in it there is manifestation and non-manifestation, phenomenon and non-phenomenon. So do not approach the understanding of life with any qualitative relations, special circumstances or attributes... Nature conceals Life, that is, everything that is in manifestation conceals Life in itself. When that Life in Nature develops and becomes concentrated in the individual, then Nature has fulfilled itself: The whole destiny and function of Nature is to create the individual who is self-conscious, who knows the pairs of opposites, who knows that he is an entity in himself, conscious and separate.

Every young animal, everything in nature is unconsciously perfect, but man is consciously imperfect and that is where glory lies. To grow out of that imperfection into conscious perfection is the purpose of man's life and that everyone has to do for himself.

Life has no law, manifestation has law

There is manifestation and in manifestation there must be law, but not for that which manifests. To life there must be an expression, and in the expression there must be law, but for that life which expresses itself there cannot be law. I maintain that for that which is life in freedom, which is spirituality in consummation, there cannot be law, because if it is under law, it is in limitation.

Life is stronger than form; that is why life destroys and reconstructs form incessantly. There are no forms you can wisely call stable. They alter from second to second, even if you do not see it. They are never exactly the same because they are but the changing receptacle of life. Life does not change except in the forms which it adapts to its needs. Life explains itself in every individual and in every form. Words are forms of thoughts and thoughts are forms of truths, but certainly not Truth itself.

There is no separation of form and life, of spirit and matter. They are all one. The form is the expression of life. If the life is not strong, vital, pliable, energetic, completely and wholly free, your forms are limitation. So, you must concern yourself with life, and then forms will look after themselves.

Life has no plans

Life which is unconditioned, free, whole, is entirely delivered from all plans. The moment you have a plan, you are bringing that life into limitation. And as you cannot bring down that which is unconditioned and which can never be controlled, your plan cannot then correspond to life which is free.

In Life, there is no life or death, it is all a continual process, never ceasing, ever changing. In life, there cannot be at one moment birth and at another moment death. It is only the physical expression that changes.

Life is not to be approached through the past, nor through the mirage of the future. Life cannot be approached through intermediaries, nor conquered for another.

No one will ever pierce the infinite mystery of the future, impenetrable in its evanescent illusion...

That discovery can only be made in the immediate present -by the individual for himself and not for others.

Life has no voice

Life has no voice, that inner voice is the result of your experience. Life leaves you alone to progress towards life -the whole. It does not concern itself with individuals.

Life itself has no system, for it is always in movement, always growing and striving. To systematize it, therefore, is to bind it and so negate its vital quality.

Life creates man and leaves him absolutely independent, corruptible, limited, a slave to circumstances. Being independent, being free, he is able to choose for himself. But through his lack of capacity, his ignorance of the essential, he chooses those things around him which are trivial.

Life converts life, makes you straight if you are crooked. If you are not suffering, life makes you suffer; if you are not thoughtful, life makes you thoughtful, and if you have no emotions that stir and nourish you, life will awake your emotions, your affections, your love...

I have often described to you what is the ultimate fulfilment of life, namely that pure life in which there is no separation. That life both Buddha and the Christ have realized but it belongs to every human being potentially. When it is realized all separation ceases, and so in it there can be no distinction of names. In entering into it each one becomes the All, he becomes Life itself. The Christ and the Buddha are life... it is that life I say that I have realized.

Go beyond the limitations

I am trying to make it clear, trying to build a bridge for others to come over, not away from life, but to have more abundantly of life...

All this is so badly expressed and, by constantly expressing and talking about it, one hopes to make it clearer and clearer...

The more I think of what I have 'realised', the clearer I can put it and help to build a bridge, but that takes time and continual change of phrases, so as to give true... You have no idea how difficult it is to express the inexpressible, and what is expressed is not truth.

The Pilgrim and his Holy Pilgrimage

Part 1. The Pilgrim and his Holy Pilgrimage

Jiddu Krishnamurti. The Pilgrim and his Holy Pilgrimage is a very rare selection of Krishnamurti writings.